Pesky call woes: TRAI asks telcos to set up mechanism by February

Telecom regulator Trai has extended the timeline until February-end for service providers to put in place a complaint mechanism and associated penalties to check pesky calls and messages.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) will start imposing a penalty of up to 50 lakh per calendar month from March if telecom operators fail to adhere to the clause of Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference (Amendment) Regulations 2018.

In an amendment to the regulations issued on July 19, Trai has extended time to put in place blockchain technology based mechanism under regulation 24 for recording complaints in detail.

The regulator extended time to put in place the mechanism till February 28.

"Regulations 26, 27 and sub-regulations...of regulation 25 of these regulations shall come in to force with effect from February 28," the amendment note said. The regulation 26, 27 and 25 are about to recordkeeping and reporting, consequences for the originating access provider (OAP) failing to curb the unsolicited commercial communications sent through its network and complaint mechanism respectively.

These regulations were scheduled to be effective from 150 days within the pesky calls and messaging rules were notified by Trai un July.

Under the rule, Trai has made provision to impose slab based financial disincentive with a maximum penalty not exceeding Rs 50 lakh per calendar month.